A solo traveler's random journeys

July 29, 2017

#Goal: I Am (Your Brand)

Every company with a solid business model embraces the value of having a strong brand story, a compelling content strategy and easily accessible data insights, especially in the digital space. Their combined strengths allow companies to lead digital transformations by transcending the digital divide and embracing the hyper-connected economies with solutions built for the future.

Technologies enable, but only humans make things happen.

Humans–you–provide the vision along with the social mission to contextualize why they engage in business in the first place. It is so easy to get caught up with branding as an equity building exercise, but you must remember that customers are at the heart of shaping your brand. Your audiences are not only listening; they are changing the game.

Communities or tribes rule the digital world and it is becoming more essential to be listener, commentator, mentor and then director respectively in order to gain your audiences’ trust and free the conversation flow. Genuine engagement happens only among equals as digital levels the playing field.

Return to your roots: the why. Contextualize how you are making a difference in your chosen product and service. Beyond their psychographic profiles, know your communities then engage them with helpful content from video tutorials to white papers as well as real-life conversations that address their pain points, user cases, situational challenges, etc.

Then actually help by determining how you can make the difference in their lives. These contextualized conversations become your stories, your branding, your content.

Change the game by bravely becoming the channel and taking both thankless resolutions and loud rants objectively. Treat every feedback as actionable items and be grateful for every opinion; lack of opinion or brand apathy is your real enemy.

Conversations can lead to conversions when handled well. Start by listening intently and differentiating between signal and noise.

Finally, never lose sight of your ultimate goal: to direct the conversation back to making your product and service be the next hero in your audiences’ lives until they can proudly exclaim: “I AM (YOUR BRAND ).”